Looking for guidance on modding Final Fantasy II (Origins package) for PSX

[Trubbs]

I have extremely limited experience with coding and hacking, although I am very computer savvy and am able to learn things well when I am passionate.

I love Final Fantasy II on PSX, part of the Origins package, but now that I have beaten the game several times, I want to increase the difficulty. I had anticipated (having never hacked a game before) that this would consist of going through data archives and modifying coefficients to reduce leveling rates, adding zeroes to enemy health pools, etc. However, after reading a thread or two it would appear I have drastically underestimated the amount of work involved in this. This game in particular doesn't appear to be nearly as popular as other games in the FF series so I doubt a hard mode mod already exists =(

I read the FAQ found here but a lot of it went right over my head.

So, as a computer lover but terrible programming noob, what skills should I learn first? I think it would be good to focus on a good conceptual understanding before delving into actual mechanics. I hate to ask such a dumb question that I will probably find an answer to myself, but is there any guide in particular you would recommend to someone who has been an avid gamer for over 15 years (pretty good at age 21) but is only just starting to approach the realm of hacking?

This is something I've been meaning to do for a long time but I've always been lazy and not gotten around to doing it. With that said, I am eager to learn how to hack games and look forward to becoming acquainted with the community here.

[Helder]

Well since you are a noob in this department its helpful to read some guide on how to hack and here is one : http://doc.kodewerx.org/generic_code_hacking.html

It's good to use PCSX Reloaded to do searches since its easy to use and setup (for the most part) just to get you used to how codes and memory works. Now to make a hard hack all depends on what you consider Hard, maybe the enemies do more damage or you do less or you gain less XP. Knowing what you want to hack makes things a little easier and ultimately you will have to do some Assembly codes which are next step after you're proficient with the general code making.

[Lazy Bastard]

Also, keep in mind the difference between the term 'hacking', which in the video game hacking scene generally refers to RAM hacking, and 'modding', which generally refers to modifying actual files and data on a ROM or disc image. Most of what helder refers to above is considered hacking, which may accomplish the same goals you are working toward (making the game harder, etc), and may in itself teach you quite a bit about game mechanics and such, but will not yield a mod which can be burned to disc or patched to disc image and played without a cheat system/device or emulator with the capability to use cheats.

That being said, hacking some codes to accomplish this goal will be much easier to learn as a skill and much quicker to achieve as a result.

[Helder]

Right but modifying the actual ROM or ISO can be done after you hack some ASM code and then find the same addresses in the ISO and patch it so the codes are in the disc. So its a stepping stone method that will ultimately get you the results plus it will teach you somethings about games and their programming.

[Lazy Bastard]

Well yeah, that's why I said "most" :P

[Trubbs]

I have a very good idea of what I want to change. The game I want to mod, Final Fantasy II, was special to me because instead of an XP leveling system, it used one where your skills and attributes had chances to increase (or sometimes decrease) based on what actions you take in battle. Things I want to mod include:

The rate at which weapon and magic skill levels increase (adds a flat number to a total on each command and when the total reaches 100 the skill increases).

The chance of an attribute increase (this is something along the lines of X/24, where X = the # of times you used a certain command in combat). For example, if you use fight command 5 times in combat, you have a 5/24 chance of getting a strength increase.

I also want to edit the monster values to greatly increase the difficulty. I always loved this game, but by the time you've finished everything in the game your characters are nowhere near the maximum level. I want to modify the game's enemies (using my own time to test balancing with trial-and-error) so that towards the end of the game, player characters must be near the power limit to defeat the enemies. Basically, I liked the game so much that I even thought the NES version was a little too easy. =)

Anyways, so I have installed a hex-editor on my PC but it looks like your saying I can use the emulator to edit code as well as run it. I sat down and opened my ROM with my editor, and realized I have no idea what to do next LOL.

This shouldn't be TOO difficult because I don't want to do any editing with graphics or sound, just gameplay mechanics/balancing. I'm going to get started reading through the link you posted to EnHacklopedia, but let me know if theres anything you can think to add that might help make this more venture more successful.